Vatican's permanent UN observer made Apostolic Nuncio to Poland

Vatican City, Jun 30, 2010 / 02:15 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- There was really only one surprise in the whirlwind of appointments and resignations at the Vatican on Wednesday. Few people, if anyone, expected the Holy Father's appointment of Archbishop Celestino Migliore, until now the Holy See's permanent observer to the U.N., as the Apostolic Nuncio to Poland.

Archbishop Migliore was born in Cuneo, Italy on July 1, 1952 and was ordained to the priesthood in June 1977. In 1980 he entered into the Holy See's diplomatic corps, carrying out roles at pontifical missions in Angola, the U.S., Egypt and Poland.

He was sent to the Council of Europe in 1992 as the Holy See's special envoy, was named sub-secretary of the "relations with states" section of the Vatican's Secretariat of State in 1995 and, in 2002, was appointed as the Holy See's permanent observer to the United Nations.

He was made archbishop on Jan. 6, 2003 because of his appointment to serve as the observer at the U.N.

The nunciature position was vacated in May of this year when Jozef Kowalczyk was appointed as the Metropolitan Archbishop of Gniezno, Poland. Archbishop Migliore worked with the Polish prelate while carrying out his service with the diplomatic corps in the country in the late 1980s, according to a Polish Radio report on Wednesday.